21 Dec 2002

Puerto Rico has a weed (very common in our lawn :-) that is very unusual:  When you touch it, the leaves quickly retract/collapse.  They say it is called Mimosa pudica.  I was surprised to see a photo and description of this plant in a biology textbook:  I feel like I'm living next door to a celebrity.

I'm curious to know what sort of international body is responsible for settling disputes about genus and species naming, precedence, and so on.  It is a long-held rule that whoever first publishes a description of a species gets to name it.  As part of the description, the author must distinguish the new species from its siblings.

Read a good biology text (1993, Campbell).  It answers some questions I always had about genetics:

• The recessive gene in an individual (every one has two different versions of every gene: one from mother, one from father) does produce (express) proteins, but the dominant proteins somehow overshadow them.
• The proteins generated by the dominant and recessive variants (aka alleles) are very similar, differing in just a few amino acids
• Man genes have only one allele; the number of alleles can be 1,2,3,...10 or more.  Blood type gene has 3 alleles.
• A lot of DNA is useless  "garbage strings"
• Some genes are repeated several times, identically
• Some genes have duplicates w some variation
• Only 5% of genes express at any given time.
• There are about 100K genes in a human
• Some genes produce RNA, rather than proteins.

20 Dec 2002

Read an essay by Camille Paglia, an academic famous for her book Sexual Personae (1990?) which asserts that most great art is created by men, not women, as an outlet of unrequited sexual desire.    Paglia claims that there will never be as many great women artists or writers because women don't have the same pent-up sexual desire (and need to impress the opposite sex?) as men.   Naturally, her thesis is repugnant to feminists.  

The essay I read by Paglia is about date rape where she asserts that many of the victims bear some responsibility for the crime.   Again, Paglia is going against the feminist dogma.   She acknowledges that date rape is a crime, but says that if the victim behaves overly provocatively, she can bear some of the responsibility.   This reminds me of the civil law principle of contributory negligence, where blame is apportioned between both parties, reflecting the truth that blame is not always black/white, but instead more gray.

Her essay begins with an anecdote:  She was talking to a man and he described a trip he took to Egypt, and the night he spent at the great pyramids.  She was saddened, because she know that - as a woman - she would never be able to have such an experience.

15 Dec 2002

Studying the gaussian ("normal") probability curve:  it can be derived from the binomial distribution, since the gaussian curve can be thought of as the binomial distribution in its limit.    There is no closed form solution for the area under the normal curve, so it has to be evaluated numerically, or with an approximation.  The normal curve is e ** (-(x ** 2))   whereas the similar poisson curve is x * e ** (-x).   The normal curve represents the distribution of a value which is a function of lots of independent factors (like height, weight, grades, etc).   Whereas the Poisson represents the expected number of random events to occur in a given time interval (horiz axis represents the time interval).

13 Dec 2002

Read The Persian Expedition (400 BC, Xenophon).   Great book:  the intro says that this book is (was) read by many upper class British children in their Greek classes.   It is a detailed history of 10,000 Greek mercenaries fighting for Cyrus, against his brother, son of Darius.  Cyrus is killed and "the 10,000" are left stranded in Persia, and undertake a difficult and dangerous return journey.   When they finally spy the Black Sea, they cry "The Sea, The Sea!".

This book points out that the meaning of the biblical commandment "Thou shalt not take the lords name in vain" has nothing to do with cursing, but instead means that if you swear a promise, invoking a god, you must keep your promise.  Thus the meaning of "taking an oath".   I suppose this was early contract law :-)

6 Dec 2002

Read At The Waters Edge (C. Zimmer) a book on evolution that focuses on the transition of life from the oceans to land (tetrapods), and back again to the water (whales, dolphins, seals).   The book has an excellent discussion of cladistics (the study of building a tree of life) and summarizes the three common approaches to building a tree of life

1. Genetics: use DNA or similar molecular information from living organisms to calculate how long ago they diverged, and build a tree based on that data (using a computer program)
2. Gross visual appearance: this is the old-fashioned way of building phylums/families/classes/genera
3. Tabulation of physical characteristics. This is a compromise between approaches (1) and (2), which enumerates concrete criteria (number of ribs; presence of certain organs, etc) of every animal, then uses a computer program to build a tree.

The goal of cladistics is to build a tree that represents the ancestor/descendent relationships of all species that ever lived on earth.  One of the consequences of this is that ancestors can be described even if no fossil remains exist.  A "clade" is a fork in the tree, and all its descendents.    For instance, given two species A and B (living or extinct), we can define clade  C as "the most recent common ancestor of A and B".   C is a fork in the tree's branches, and A is in one fork, and B is in the other fork.  

Another way of identifying an ancestor clade (besides "the most recent common ancestor of A and B") is "The oldest ancestor of A that does not include B in its descendents".

For a given fork in the tree, there is both the ancestor species at the fork, as well as the set of all species that descended from that fork (the clade).  But the species and clade cannot be used interchangeably, because that species may have persisted for a long time, and generated many descendents (and so a distinct clade exists for each descendent-fork).   

In the above methods for defining an ancestor clade, A and B can be a species or a clade. 

For those persons that don't believe in evolution, a tree can still be built with cladistics, but its the interpretation of the branches is not "ancestor" but instead the vaguer "common traits". 

Ideally, for each clade, we should be able to describe how the species belonging to the clade differ from other species not in the clade, that is, what specific anatomical traits distinguish this clade?   But, strictly speaking, it is not necessary to have these anatomical descriptions to define clades.

Cladistics has rendered some classical animal groupings obsolete.   For example, birds are now thought to be descended from dinosaurs, so birds are a member of the reptile family - which is contrary to the classical view which treats birds and reptiles separately.

Cladistics was invented by Henning (Germany) around 1950 and has finally brought objectivity to taxonomy.   It is rendering the notion of "family" "class" "order" obsolete, although the lower-level "species" and "genus" are still meaningful.

Establishing uniform and concrete names for species, living and extinct, is important, yet difficult.  The notion of "species type" (the original specimen that was described to define a new species) is critical.  For ancestor clades, the rule has been established that once a scientist gives a name to an ancestor clade (using one of the two methods defined above) that name is permanently established.  Furthermore, if two clade-names are established, and the two clades turn out to be identical, the clade-name that was established first is adopted.  (E.g. if clade X is most recent common ancestor of A and B; and clade Y is most recent common ancestor of C and D, then later it turns out that X = Y, then whichever of X or Y was published first wins, even if the first name is not as appropriate).

An example of a clade name might be "The dinosaur clade is defined as the most recent common ancestor of a bluebird and a triceratops".

4 Dec 2002

Saw The Fantasticks on TV last night.  This musical had a 40-year run off-Broadway, and includes the wonderful song Try to Remember that Kind of September.   The movie was made in 1995, but not released until 2000 (there must be an interesting story behind that).   Female lead Jean Kelly is great, but not very well-known.  Critics who have seen both the play and the movie seem to dislike the movie:  First, two songs were cut; and second, the play was usually performed in small, intimate settings with no scenery, so the players closely related to the audience.  The movie, to those audience members, seems very distant and aloof.  

30 Nov 2002

Saw a live telecast of the British Commons.  Very refreshing and lively.  One MP made a speech about the mideast that would never be heard in the USA:   He complained about the double-standard the US has regarding the mideast:  We are going to war with Iraq because (1) they have weapons of mass destruction; and (2) Iraq is not complying with UN resolutions.  But Israel is also guilty of both those, and yet the US rewards and protects Israel.    Would any US congressperson ever make such a speech?  

3 Nov 2002

Read Churchill - A Biography (Roy Jenkins).   A balanced biography that covers the warts as well as the legend.  On the whole, I wasn't too impressed with Churchill's character:

• WC was very power hungry:  He was motivated by ambition, not by altruism.  Very egocentric.
• WC was a key proponent of the Dardanelles thrust in WW I - a 40K casualty disaster that inspired the movie Gallipoli 
• Never spent any time with his children; rarely spent time with his wife
• Refused to retire as PM, even when he was 80 years old and incompetent
• Hired ghost writers to write the vast majority of his books
• Had a stroke (about age 60) while he was PM, and persuaded his cronies (who controlled the UK newspapers) to cover it up for about 3 months
• Was more concerned with style than content in his speeches.
• He jeopardized the lives to two fellow POS in a South African POW camp by escaping prematurely using their escape plan, thus foiling their opportunity.
• The only reason he was elected MP was because his father was n MP, his uncle was a Duke, and his mother pulled lots of strings.
• Was very anti-bolshevik and suppoted the white russian counter-revolution
• WWI military service lasted only 5 months (and half that time he was in London) and he quit  as soon as a political opportunity arose.
• Fought to keep India as a subjugated colony.

To be fair, he loved Britain, and fought hard for some worker's rights (such as unemployment insurance) but he suffers in comparison to John Adams, who was humble, modest, and a good family man.

29 Oct 2002

Read John Adams (D. McCollough).  Lots of neat quotes:

An Empire of laws, not men - James Harrington

No taxation without representation - Slogan in 1750's Ireland (did not originate in USA)

We must hang together or separately - Carter Braxton (?? is this a play on words)

I never could believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world, ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden - Richard Rumbold (1685; British conspirator; spoken last words before executed).

The book talks about a huge debate that the founding fathers had, which seems rather remote now:   Some wanted a very strong president (almost a monarch) and a weak or non-existent senate.  Others wanted a strong senate (and strong state's rights) and a weaker president (no monarchial titles). 

21 Oct 2002

Big bankruptcy this month:  Enron, a Texas-based energy company that made lots of money off of Californians during the deregulation fiasco.   The Enron CEO and CFO stole millions from the shareholders, and lied regularly about the companies earnings.   One of their tricks was to create wholly-owned subsidiaries, and to transfer their money-losing contracts into those subsidiaries.  The values of these subsidiaries was artificially high and effectively hid the losses.  Apparently, parent corporations are not required to report internal losses of wholly owned subsidiaries. 

Read a book review in Discover magazine, about The Blank Slate (2002, Steven Pinker).   A book about the nature vs. nurture controversy (or as he calls it:  human nature vs. the blank slate).   The author claims that nature is more significant than nurture, but more importantly, he claims that proponents of nurture are motivated by political correctness (and wish to avoid appearance of racism).    In one humorous passage, he says that even the most nurture-believing liberal will tell their teenage daughters to watch out for teenage boys, because the boy's genes will cause him to try to seduce girls. 

Specifically, he claims that research shows that genetics account for about 70% of a persons mental traits and personality.    About 10% is upbringing; and the other 20% is chance or circumstance.   This assertion, of course, gives lots of ammunition to racists and to proponents of eugenics.

The author spends time trying to explain why the nurture-supporters pursue their belief.  He says that their primary goal is to support equal opportunity and inhibit discrimination.    The book is reminiscent of The Closing of the American Mind, because it attacks political correctness.   

But the liberals do have a point:  every time a teacher or parent talks (accurately) about genetic pre-disposition of boys to guns and science fiction, and girls to homemaking, that may have the effect of discouraging girls to pursue careers in the sciences.

One thing the book doesn't address is the opposite situation:  Where liberals use the nature argument to absolve unsuccessful people of their failings (e.g. lazy people have chronic fatigue syndrome;  obese people have eating disorders, etc) where as conservatives - who want victims to take personal responsibility - would emphasize the nurture side of the argument.

Another paradox:  Liberals claim homosexuality is inherited, but violent behavior is learned (or you can view this conversely as conservatives claim homosexuality is learned, and violent behavior is inherited).

As genetics makes advances, one can imagine a day in the future when genetic testing can reveal inherited characteristics of individuals (music, chess, math, leadership, communication, etc) that can be used to determine admission to schools or occupations.

When kayaking last week in Puerto Rico's bioluminescent bay.   The organisms are dinoflagellates, variety pyrodinium (pyro = fire).    Similar to the 'red tide' algae blooms.     But these PR glows are beautiful bright blue specks, which glow just for a second or two; and glow only when the water is agitated around them.

Read Ship Fever (A. Barret): neat quote from Edward Young (1745; Night Thoughts)

Nothing can satisfy but what confounds,

Nothing but what astonishes is true.

Night Thoughts looks like an interesting book (poem?) .. I must read it someday.

25 Sept 2002

Read The Sinking of the Odradek Stadium.   It contains a chinese proverb 

In men, love follows desire;  in women, desire follows love

And from Mulan:  

A single grain of rice can tip the scale.

Just for kicks, I decided I would try to come up with a mathematical axiom system for two-dimensional geometry.   Euclid did it, and there are many modern efforts, notably by Hilbert.   I failed.   It is a lot harder than it looks.  One stumbling block for me is coming up with the undefined terms:  any set of axioms relies on some undefined fundamental terms (point, line, on, contains, between, congruent) that are pre-supposed.   And you have to decide if you are going to include metric notions like length, angles, or area.

21 Sept 2002

Read The Greatest Generation (Tom Brokaw) and I must concur, because the timing of events was such that a person could really experience some great things in their life.   If I could select a particular year to be born, and a sequence of events to participate in, it would be:

• 1921 - Born.
• 1930-1935 Grow up in depression.
• 1943 - Graduate college
• 1943-45 WWI in Europe (D-Day to Berlin)
• 1946-52 - Work in nuclear energy (submarines or commercial)
• 1953-60 - Work in with space satellites
• 1961-69 - Work on Apollo space program and the moon shot
• 1970-85 - Work on computers, IBM or Microsoft
• 1986 - Retire at 65

Of course, sketching out a life like this prompts me to ask:  What should a youngster in today's world look for as a career?  What fields are exploding and will have important consequences for future generations?   My guesses are (1) Internet - data sharing to empower consumers and voters;  (2) Cloning;  (3) Genetic engineering; (4) Healthcare and longevity.   I suppose the latter three are variations on the same theme.

15 Aug 2002

Read Ten Things I Wish I Knew When I was Entering the Real World (Maria Shriver), and expansion of a college graduation address she gave.    Here is my own list: 

1. Don't rely on other people to make you happy.  You, and only you, are responsible for your own happiness.  Don't expect your spouse or boss or friend to make you happy, and don't blame them if you're not.   You have to be happy by yourself before you can be happy in a relationship.

2. Be logical.  Don't let emotion control you when making decisions.  Be rational, think things out, consider all the options, measure, and get advice. Don't be superstitious:  astrology is bunkum. 

3. Be wary.  Don't believe any advertising.  Although con artists are rare, assume every stranger is a con artist until proven otherwise.  Always ask yourself what the other person's motivation is, what do they stand to gain?  Be doubly cautious when money is involved.   Trust, but verify.

4. Work Hard.  Select the career that you are most excited about.  All successful people are ambitious, and really successful people are aggressive.  There is a lot of competition, and if you don't fight hard and scramble, you won't be successful.  Don't be afraid to toot your own whistle.  Nice guys finish last.  You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you ask for.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

5. Communicate.  People cannot read your mind, so let them know what you expect. Talking about a problem robs the problem of its power.   Listening is more important that talking.  Everyone has a story to tell, and usually it pays off to hear it.  Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions.

6. Money can buy happiness, or at least peace-of-mind and comfort.  Don't be ashamed to accumulate wealth.    But don't waste money on status symbols and stuff you won't use. Own your possessions: don’t let your possessions own you.  The best professions are physician, college professor, lawyer, business owner, or pilot … and civil service is always good.

7. Be a Feminist.   Don't tolerate men who treat you as inferior, in the workplace or in relationships.  Demand equal rights and equal pay, and use the legal system if you have to.  Acknowledge the genuine differences between men and women (nesting instinct, aggressiveness, sex drive, etc), but don't overemphasize them.

8. Root for the underdog  …  she usually deserves to win.  When the powerful get too much power, the imbalance results in corruption, oppression, and unfairness.  Question authority.  If you see a bully picking on someone, stand up for the victim.

9.  It takes two people to pick up a pain rock.   If someone says something hurtful to you (e.g. an insult, or to make you feel guilty) ignore it.  It takes two to tango, and if someone is antagonizing you, you can simply refuse to dance.  Try to figure out why they are being antagonistic and go from there.

10. Try new things.  Don't get stuck in a rut.  Experiment.  Take the road less traveled.  If you're good at sports, try art.   If you're good at dance, try science. When you are green, you are growing, but when you are ripe, you rot. Don't be afraid to fail:  it can be exhilarating and stimulating.  

Relationships are so important, they need ten pieces of advice, all by themselves:

1. Don't depend on a spouse for your happiness.  Don't be a pathetic women whose whole existence revolves around finding and keeping a spouse.  Marriage is important, but no more so than your own career, friends, and hobbies.   You won't have a good marriage if your self-esteem is poor.  If you are not happy when single, you won't be happy when married.

2.  Don't worry about your appearance.   Being attractive is great:  nothing feels better than being desired by the opposite sex.  But if you spend most of your energy worrying about your appearance, your priorities are wrong.  Although the "belle of the ball" may get all the attention at a party, nearly all of the women - even the plain ones - at the party will get married … many of them sooner and happier than the belle.    The cosmetics and fashion industries will bombard you with advertising throughout your life, trying to convince you that spending time and money on your looks is the most important thing you can do … don't believe them.     Stick to simple, timeless styles and avoid fashions that will be out-dated next year.

3. Wait to get married.  Don't get married until you finish college and start your career.   Dating consumes a large amount of time and money, and will adversely affect your education and your career development.   If you decide to have kids, be warned that you probably can't have a great career and raise the kids at the same time; so plan on staggering  your career and the kids.    Don't worry that all the good men will be taken:  there are lots of men that will make a great spouse, and if it doesn't work out with one man, another will come along.

4.  Pick a spouse carefully.  Follow your head, not your heart:   when choosing a spouse you must be very logical because it is easy to get confused by the emotions.  When the time comes to find a spouse, be systematic:  use dating services and personal ads.  Don't rely on chance encounters such as co-workers, bars, or parties.    Plan on dating a lot of duds until you find a good one.    Be patient.   Date at least 12 months before getting engaged.

5. Disney Lies.  Don't believe the Disney mythology of Living Happily Ever After with Prince Charming.   There is not just one "Mr. Right" … lots of men will make great husbands.  Marriage is not for everyone.  A man's character is more important than his handsomeness. 

6. Sex.  Sex is great in a marriage, but sex while dating can lead to heartbreak, unwanted pregnancy, or sexually transmitted diseases.  Try to understand how men view sex.  Avoid sexual intercourse until you are engaged to be married - as an alternative, consider oral sex or hand sex.  Use condoms before marriage.    While dating, if a man pressures you for sex, that is probably all he wants, and you should dump  him.  

7. Kids.   You should only have children within a marriage, because a two-parent home is best for a child, and raising a child by yourself is very hard work.  But if children are of vital importance to you, and you don't have a spouse, consider adoption or sperm banks.   On the other hand, if you don't feel that you would be a good mother, don't have kids, and don't let others make you feel bad about your decision.

8.  How to tell if he loves you.   Does he introduce you to his friends and family?   Does he place your relationship above his own interests?   Does he talk about your future together?  Does he look you in the eye when talking?  Is he willing to wait until marriage to have sex?  Does he listen to you?

9. Your spouse won't be perfect.   Marriage is hard work and is not always fun.   Understand your spouse's feelings about issues likely to cause fights (money, sex, vacations, religion, children, socializing) before you get engaged.  Most men are not as intuitive as women, and they certainly cannot read your mind,  so communicate your expectations to him very clearly:   Say "I want you to buy that computer  for my birthday" rather than "gee, doesn't that computer in the window look nice!".

10. You cannot change him.  If you are thinking of marrying a man, and he has a significant character flaw, you should marry him only if you can live with the flaw.   Do not assume you can change the man.  Character is something that he is born with, and you are setting yourself up for unhappiness if you assume you can mold your spouse. 

And while I'm at it, here are Dr. Laura's "10 stupid things women do to mess up their lives" (from her book of the same name).  Good advice, but I don't like the fact that she frames everything negatively (but it probably boosted sales:-)

1.  Attachment:  Don’t define yourself in relation to men.   Be your own person first.

2. Courtship:  Don't be a  beggar when dating.  Be a chooser.  Date at least 18 months before getting engaged.

3. Devotion:  Don't love someone who doesn't return it.   End the relationship and move on.

4. Passion:   Don't get your heart broken by having sex too soon.  Wait until you are married or engaged.

5.  Living Together:  Don't think that he'll start to want you just because you are shacking up.  Wait until you are married.  

6. Expectations:  If you have low self esteem, don't use marriage as a solution … the marriage will be  a disaster.

7. Babies:   Don't have a baby just to improve your marriage or to grow as a person.  Only have a baby if you are mature and your marriage is strong.

8.  Subjugation:  If your husband treats you or your children without respect, end the marriage.  Don't prolong the misery because you are insecure.

9.  Helplessness:  If you are unhappy in your marriage, don't whine, nag, and complain.  Either improve the marriage or end  it.

10. Forgiving:  If the man is a jerk (adulterer, addict, disrespectful, etc), do not marry him.  If you married a jerk, end the marriage.

14 Aug 2002

Read a review of a new book Sexual Selections (2003, Marlene Zuk).    Its thesis is that scientific research about sexual behavior in the animal kingdom is distorted because of bias of the mostly male researchers.   Examples include:  reporting males as more aggressive than females;  monogamous females vs. polygamous males;  females tend to offspring while males don't.   The author contends that there are a huge variety of counterexamples to be found in nature to counter all of these commonly accepted ideas.

The author points out that people routinely use these scientific "truths" to help guide their own decision-making (e.g. in regards to choosing a mate, or homosexuality, or masturbation, or monogamy).   We frequently ask ourselves what is "natural" in nature, and use that to guide us. 

Not only do we look to animals, we also look to primitive human cultures to give us a clue as to how we "should" behave if we were not corrupted by civilization (Eskimos leaving elderly to die in the snow; Samoans polygamy;  topless Polynesian women, etc).

24 July 2002

Talking about a problem robs the problem of its power.

14 July 2002

Newspaper describes a "palladium" initiative by Microsoft to combat software piracy.  Apparently the goal is to work with Intel to embed a unique ID in each computer, which would include the private part of a public key system.    Thus all data sent from the computer can be signed; and encrypted data can only be read by that one computer.  [This initiative is still alive, but requires special cryptographic hardware in the computer; and is not planned to be in the 2007 Vista operating system].

Federal law took effect this year that finally forced companies to account for stock options they issued to employees.  Until now, successful companies could pay employees with stock options, and not report that expense on their books.   This artificially boosted the companies earnings and profit (although it had no effect on companies that had declining stock prices).    Companies are no required to report "diluted earnings per share" which accounts for all the stock options.   And companies are required to treat the stock options as a concrete liability (I think they have to use a probabilistic prediction of the stock price at the time the option becomes exercisable).

Another example of Puerto Rico welfare:  Every family in PR gets free food for kids under 5.   It is called the WIC program and exists all across the US, but other states only give it out to poor families.  PR has no problem passing out our tax dollars to all their residents.

11 July 2002

Misc political rants:

• Why do US congressmen retire as millionaires?
• Why to CEO's make 1000x more money than low-level employees?
• Why to politicians name public works after themselves?
• Why dont we have direct referendums on important federal issues like term limits and campaign contributions?
• Why dont we have more nuclear energy?

Read Robber Barons and Radicals (a historical collection of first-person accounts) hoping I could learn about robber barons like Carnegie (steel), Mellon (banking), Morgan (banking), Stanford (railroads), Rockefeller (oil), and Vanderbilt (railroads); but in fact the book is about the South immediately after the civil war.    It is a very sad story:  Immediately after the civil war, the federal government passed some great laws to provide equal protection to blacks (the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the constitution); but the southerners refused to enforce them, and the federal government gave up after a couple of years.  Most southern institutions blatantly discriminated against blacks, and any blacks that tried to enforce their rights were lynched or tortured.

8 July 2002

Listening to Dr. Laura on the radio.   Her style is a bit peremptory for me (she does not get all the facts before rendering an opinion), but she does have some good advice, such as 

Children would rather be praised than punished; but they would rather be punished than ignored.

Dating is not molding a piece of clay.  Dating is hanging a picture on the wall to see if you can live with it the rest of your life.

I dont expect you to be _the_ best, but I expect you to be _your_ best [to a child]

She is anti-choice, and very conservative.  A bit of a hypocrite because she instructs women to stay home with their kids and sacrifice their careers;  in the meantime:  She only had one kid, and managed to get a PhD and have a full-time career as a psychologist.   She claims she only worked part time when the kid was  an infant (she says she worked at home when he was sleeping) but Im not buying it:  I'll bet a maid and nanny were involved.   Also, there is the strange story about her mother:  Dr. Laura's mother was a recluse, and died alone: her body was discovered a month after death.  Turns out Dr. Laura had not talked to her mother in years.

7 April 2002

We are considering building a house on a lot.  I've prepared a detailed specification, so that we dont have any misunderstandings with the contractor (like we had with the room addition in North Park).  I've posted the specification on this web, so others can perhaps reuse it. 

18 Feb 2002

Still playing some chess online:  Im now playing at pogo.com (used to play at zone.com).  My rating is about 1750 here, where 1500 is the starting/average rating.  The rating algorithm is neat:  The amount your score goes up or down based on how different your ranking is from your opponent.  Apparently an exponential curve of some sort, where the horizontal axis is the difference in ratings (before the match), and the vertical axis is the resultant change.   After a match, both player's ratings change by the same amount, I think: one goes up, and one goes down.  Not sure what happens with ties:   There should still be a score change, but not as large as a victory by the lower-rated player.   Just looked on some web site:  the formula is:

expectedOutcome  = 1  / ( 1 + 10 ** ( K1 * playerDifference ) );

and 

changeInRating = K2 * ( actualOutcome - expectedOutcome );

This "outcome" terminology is to handle games other than chess, where a score of any sort (rather than just win/lose/tie) is possible.  For chess, the outcomes are 0, 1/2, or 1 (that is, 1 point is available, split between the two players).

3 Jan 2002

Read a golf book by Tiger woods.  I've tried to distill it all into a handy guide:

Slice Troubleshooting

Hook  Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting: Topping the Ball 

Troubleshooting: Hitting fat (behind the ball) 

Troubleshooting: Push or Pull 

Other  Troubleshooting